Essex Property Trust (ESS) Competitors

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) and Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, media sentiment, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Is AMH or ESS a better dividend stock?

American Homes 4 Rent pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Essex Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $10.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. American Homes 4 Rent pays out 111.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essex Property Trust pays out 82.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Homes 4 Rent has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Essex Property Trust has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years. Essex Property Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in AMH or ESS?

91.9% of American Homes 4 Rent shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.3% of American Homes 4 Rent shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is AMH or ESS more profitable?

Essex Property Trust has a net margin of 43.51% compared to American Homes 4 Rent's net margin of 23.72%. Essex Property Trust's return on equity of 13.98% beat American Homes 4 Rent's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Homes 4 Rent	23.72%	5.61%	3.32%
Essex Property Trust	43.51%	13.98%	6.16%

Does the media refer more to AMH or ESS?

In the previous week, Essex Property Trust had 13 more articles in the media than American Homes 4 Rent. MarketBeat recorded 31 mentions for Essex Property Trust and 18 mentions for American Homes 4 Rent. Essex Property Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat American Homes 4 Rent's score of 1.10 indicating that Essex Property Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American Homes 4 Rent	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Essex Property Trust	24 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher earnings and valuation, AMH or ESS?

Essex Property Trust has higher revenue and earnings than American Homes 4 Rent. Essex Property Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Homes 4 Rent, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Homes 4 Rent	$1.73B	7.53	$412.43M	$1.08	32.56
Essex Property Trust	$1.77B	9.31	$741.52M	$12.44	20.62

Do analysts rate AMH or ESS?

American Homes 4 Rent currently has a consensus price target of $40.90, indicating a potential upside of 16.33%. Essex Property Trust has a consensus price target of $312.92, indicating a potential upside of 21.97%. Given Essex Property Trust's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Essex Property Trust is more favorable than American Homes 4 Rent.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Homes 4 Rent	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53
Essex Property Trust	1 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.37

Which has more risk & volatility, AMH or ESS?

American Homes 4 Rent has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Essex Property Trust beats American Homes 4 Rent on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.